Yamato
Yamato (ヤマト, Yamato) is an Anbu in the service of Konohagakure. Because of his unique Wood Release, he is added to Team Kakashi as a temporary replacement for Hatake Kakashi to help keep the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox inside Naruto in check. Though Kakashi eventually returns to the team, Yamato stays on to provide assistance when he's needed. "Yamato" is actually a codename given to him for the purposes of joining Team Kakashi, his previous codename from his Anbu days was Tenzō (テンゾウ, Tenzō). His real name is unknown. Background Yamato graduated from the Academy at the age of six, and at that same age, was promoted to the rank of chūnin . As a child, the boy was abducted by Orochimaru and became one of sixty children that were his test subjects. They were injected with the First Hokage 's DNA in the hopes that they could replicate the First's ability to use Wood Release . Orochimaru later abandoned the experiment, believing that none of them had survived. In actuality, this boy was the lone survivor and found himself endowed with an unquantified Wood Release and likewise the First's abilities to control tailed beasts . While contained in a test tube, he was fully conscious of his surroundings, watching in horror as other children died from failed experiments. Not wanting to die himself, he used his Wood Release to escape. He was soon afterwards found by Shimura Danzō . Having lost all memory of who he was, the boy was taken in by Danzō, where he was recruited into the Anbu 's Root division under the codename Kinoe (甲, Kinoe). Having high hopes for Kinoe, Danzō began to personally train Kinoe as a Root operative. He also gave Kinoe a scroll containing the secrets and various techniques of the Wood Release. As Sarutobi Hiruzen began to resume his post as Hokage after Namikaze Minato 's untimely passing, Danzō sent Root members, including Kinoe, to assassinate the Third. However, Hatake Kakashi , a recent recruit to Root, warned the Hokage and went in his place. Kakashi quickly defeated Kinoe, but chose to spare him in the belief that he would become a valuable ally in the future. After the battle, Kinoe began following Kakashi from afar. Kinoe later informed Danzō of Orochimaru's defection from Konoha and was instructed to meet up with Orochimaru at an underground cave that secretly housed the Iburi clan . After delivering his message to the clan, who promised to help Orochimaru escape the country, he met a young girl named Yukimi who insisted that Kinoe was her brother, Tenzō. While Yukimi began to show Kinoe around, word soon reached them that an unknown individual had entered the cave. When the intruder, Kakashi, was subdued by the Iburi clan, Kinoe convinced them to let him interrogate Kakashi. While seemingly alone, Kinoe revealed that his actual mission was the same as Kakashi's, ensuring that Orochimaru did not escape the country. Gotta , the clan's leader, overheard this while spying and quickly ordered for both Konoha-nin to be killed, though Yukimi refused to let Kinoe die, saving them both. Leaving Kakashi behind, Yukimi possessed Kinoe's body and the two travelled to a carnival, where they took part in the festivities. Kakashi later caught up, planning to use Yukimi to capture Orochimaru, since she was of great importance to him. Refusing to let Yukimi be used as bait, Kinoe ran off with her, announcing that his name was "Tenzō". Quickly catching up to them, Kakashi explained that Yukimi's blood could temporarily bestow Orochimaru with the Iburi clan's smoke transformation, allowing him to slip across the border. Overhearing that, Yukimi slipped away and returned to the cave. Recognising that Kinoe cared for Yukimi not unlike he had cared for Nohara Rin, Kakashi agreed to work together with Kinoe to save her. Upon returning to the cave, the two discovered that Orochimaru had killed the Iburi clan and captured Yukimi. The spirits of the Iburi guided Kinoe and Kakashi to Yukimi, causing Orochimaru to flee. Yukimi's body then began to destabilise, but the spirits of the Iburi used their power along with Kinoe's Wood Release to re-stabilise her ability. Kakashi decided to leave and not report anything about the Iburi or Root's involvement. Yukimi, no longer needing to fear the wind, parted ways with Kinoe to see the world, while the latter was happy to know that he did have the power to save people. Three years later, Danzō, fearing that his transplanted Sharingan would eventually go blind from its over-usage, assigned Kinoe and Kinoto to steal the Sharingan from Kakashi as a substitute. Kinoe found Kakashi while on a mission to investigate one of Orochimaru's abandoned labs. While initially working alongside Kakashi, he quickly attacked the older shinobi. As Kakashi tried to reason with him that friends should not kill each other, Kinoe retorted that comment, knowing that Kakashi killed his friend Nohara Rin . Enraged that Kinoe believed Kakashi killed her on purpose, Kakashi quickly overpowered him, telling Kinoe that she died because he couldn't protect her, making Kinoe remember the other test subjects he wanted to save. Refusing to kill Kinoe as he still viewed him a friend and ally, Kakashi instead chose to take him to the Third Hokage. Before he could, one of Orochimaru's snake experiments escaped its test tube and attacked the duo. As Kinoe was taken captive, Kakashi managed to slay the creature. While saving Kinoe, the creature's corpse began emitting a poisonous vapour which quickly infected Kakashi. Kinoe got Kakashi out safely and, having accepting Kakashi's words, Kinoe gave Kakashi an antidote and chose to abandoned his mission, leaving Kakashi a message of it. Upon returning to Danzō, the elder was furious at Kinoe's blatant choice to defy his orders. While Kinoe insisted that Root should not target fellow Konoha members as they are allies, Danzō countered by stating that Root exists as a separate section of Konoha. Remembering the feelings of friendship from Yukimi, Kinoe ultimately decided that Root's philosophies were not for him. Disgusted at Kinoe's new view, Danzō knocked him out with his Sharingan, ordering his men to have Kinoe's cursed seal activated. As Kinoe was prepped for the operation, Kakashi arrived and freed him. The two were quickly surrounded by Danzō and several Root members. Before Danzō could act, the Third Hokage appeared, vouching for Kakashi's unsanctioned arrival and convincing Danzō to give Kinoe over to him. Later, Kinoe was re-assigned to Team Ro under Kakashi's command. Joining his new squad, Kinoe was given a warm welcome to his new allies and insisted by Kakashi that he go by his chosen name of "Tenzō", which he happily agreed to. During this time in the Anbu, he served under the guidance of Kakashi and learned much from him, developing great respect for his captain. Three years after joining Team Ro, a new Anbu was added to their team, Uchiha Itachi , who was the youngest Anbu of all time. While many on the team members questioned the wisdom of allowing someone so young to join Anbu, Tenzō and Kakashi took a great interest in the prodigy's talents. Two years later, Tenzō was shocked to learn that Itachi was made an Anbu captain while being even younger than Kakashi was. He and Kakashi were then approached by Uzuki Yūgao , who would act as Itachi's replacement for Team Ro. Later, Team Ro was mobilised to intercept the planned coup d'état, which was however already stopped by the slaughter of the clan . As they began gathering the corpses, Danzō told them that the culprit was their former comrade Itachi. Some time after the massacre, Tenzō tried to comfort Kakashi, who was saddened by his inability to help or even understand his former friend. Later, after Kakashi was honourably discharged from Anbu and reassigned as a jōnin sensei, Tenzō went to meet with his former captain, noting a positive change in Kakashi's demeanour from his new position. As Tenzō continued his career in Anbu, he would come to have the best performance record of any Anbu serving under the Third Hokage. When Team 10 and Naruto Uzumaki were given a B-rank, potentially A-rank , mission of rescuing the son of a daimyō , Shū , who was an ally to the Land of Fire , Tsunade called for Yamato. Because of rumours about there being suspicious activity going on in the Land of This where Team 10 was heading, she had Yamato secretly tail the younger Konoha-nin in the event things became S-rank danger and also gather any information possible. Later, after Team 10 completed the initial phase of their plan, capturing Shū, the nation was suddenly attacked by Akatsuki . Yamato took action and destroyed several of Sasori 's puppets. Despite his help, the nation ultimately fell to the Akatsuki's attack. With Team 10's mission still going to return Shū home, Yamato tailed them until they crossed the country borders. Afterwards, Yamato returned to Konohagakure to report to Tsunade, who became troubled by the news. Personality Yamato is a very discreet, cautious, careful and well prepared person. He projects a calm, stoic demeanour in stressful situations. He takes his missions very seriously, even insisting on being referred to by whatever his current codename. Yamato also takes great interest in architecture which can be seen when he goes out on missions and creates a house to "camp out" in. This skill to incorporate his hobby with his kekkei genkai was also seen after the invasion of Pain where he was key in recreating the village. While he has been good-natured so far, Yamato claims to be a different sort of leader than Kakashi, one who is not above "ruling by the use of terror" when his team misbehaves. Aside from his obviously intimidating skills as a ninja, however, this "terror" has so far primarily consisted of casting a creepy "ghoul-eyes" expression at his charges. Naruto , especially, is easily terrified by it, and stated that it felt like Yamato was controlling him with fear — something Yamato himself has noted that he has no qualms with. He is, however, also prone to being a victim of a cruel joke when given misleading information, as witness his visible fear and subsequent annoyance when Killer B maliciously joked about the dangers of a jinchūriki trying to control their tailed beast. Yamato is somewhat reluctant to pay for things unless he has to, as he initially protested at having to pay for lunch at Ichiraku Ramen , stating that Kakashi should pay, being the senior ninja, but was flattered into paying when Kakashi said he considered Yamato an equal. Appearance Yamato has short brown hair and black, almond-shaped eyes. While still a child and test subject of Orochimaru, he had long hair going past his shoulders.When he débuted, Yamato wore the standard attire of the Anbu, with a sword strapped to his back, a mask that resembles a cat's face covered in green, and red markings, and the Anbu tattoo on his left shoulder. When he meets up with Naruto, Sakura, and Sai for the first time, however, he has changed into a variation of the standard attire of a Konoha-nin, with a flak jacket . The differences between his attire and that of the standard one is that his does not have the Uzushiogakure crest on the shoulders of the sleeves, and the neck of his shirt is form fitting and goes up to his chin. He also still retains two hip pouches strapped to his lower back instead of just one, something typical of an Anbu. In addition to that, he has a happuri -style forehead protector that frames his face, similar to that of Senju Tobirama . Abilities As a member of Anbu, Yamato is a highly capable ninja, having one of if not the finest service record of anyone working under the Third Hokage, leading the Fifth Hokage to have the utmost confidence in him. His talents were enough to join Anbu while still a child. Due to his abilities and potential, Shimura Danzō took him on as his personal apprentice and taught him to control his Wood Release . Ninjutsu Nature Transformation Sharing the same DNA as Senju Hashirama , Yamato possesses the First's signature Wood Release kekkei genkai . This kekkei genkai allows him to combine Earth Release in one hand and Water Release in the other, to create vegetation such as trees and even grass which can be grown from any surface. These trees can be grown not only from the earth and pre-existing flora, but from his own body as well, transforming his cells as a source of life. He has also proven to be skilled with individual Water and Earth Release techniques, as seen when he used them in combination to rapidly create a giant waterfall for Naruto's training, by first raising up the ground and then creating water to fall down from it . Wood Release makes an excellent defence, and a strong offence, as well as a superb means of capturing, or restraining targets, allowing Yamato to surround himself with extremely durable wooden domes , which can also be used to trap foes within, capable of enduring most attacks, and to rapidly grow sharp trees from his arms which can be used to trap or impale enemies. In addition to the numerous, simple binding techniques which exploit the wood tendrils produced by his own body, Yamato has demonstrated multiple unique uses of Wood Release. One such example is his special Transformation Technique known as Wood Release: Transformation, in which Yamato covers his entire body with a wood imitation rather than using an illusion to mask his appearance. He is also able to create a wood-based clone generated from his body. Because they share the same cells, Yamato is able to track its location, communicate with it over long distances, and absorb any information it has gathered by laying his hand on it. Yamato can also use a seed form variant to this technique that operates in the same way: he is able to track anyone that he plants the seeds on by its response to his chakra. In the anime, he has used Wood Release more extensively, creating a wall of tangled branches, or atree that can bind opponents or even a wood shield that can be rebuilt itself. Much of his technique arsenal came from the studying a scroll containing the Wood Release techniques of the First Hokage. A less battle-oriented use of his kekkei genkai is Yamato's ability to generate wooden structures almost instantly, which he makes use of for his Wood Release: Four-Pillar Prison Technique, a large cage used to hold prisoners and intimidate unruly subordinates, and the Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique, a large house that can be erected at a moment's notice instead of setting up a camp. However, as the technique was not originally his, Yamato has realised that he cannot use the Wood Release techniques to its full potential, which by his own admission results in his full abilities paling in comparison to that of Hashirama Senju's. Nonetheless, he has enough skill and experience in Wood Release to make it the main element of his fighting style, showing considerable control with only a few to no hand seals and gaining fame as a capable user of it. In the anime, he was shown able to effectively use this ability while still a young child. Category:Characters Category:Konohagakure Category:Root Category:Allied Shinobi Forces